Juicing 101

Juicing is like a potent IV of vitamins, phytonutrients, and minerals. With every chug, you are getting a massive amount of these nutrients (e.g. 1 cup of carrot juice = 4 cups raw). And, they are being sent coursing through your bloodstream effortlessly with little digestion because the pulp has been removed. -Freshly Grown

Store-bought juice cannot even begin to compete. Why? The FDA requires juice to undergo a process called pasteurization. Juice is heated at such a high temperature that it kills bacteria, but also kills most of the nutrients as well. Pasteurization allows for a long shelf life, but there are very little nutrients left in store-bought juice because of it.

Why I Juice:

Rockin’ amount of nutrients delivered to fuel my body

Proper nutrition for my cells

Glowing skin (when I juice daily and consistently)

Improved digestion

Better bowels (let’s just be real here, people)

Convenience (I can consume more organic produce in 10 min. than I can all day)

It’s pretty (have you seen the colors that come out of a juicer?)

Chlorophyll!

Aids in detoxification

Immunity boosting

My family loves it, especially my 3-year-old

The Basics.

You need to pick a juicer, but which one?

Centrifugal vs. Masticating

Centrifugal = moves at a high speed and fruits and veggies are turned into pulp, the fast spinning motion causes the juice to separate from the pulp and drip down into the pitcher. These juicing machines are the most common and you usually don’t have to chop your produce into really small pieces.

Masticating = grinds and chews fruits and veggies at a slow speed and allows for more nutrients and juice to be extracted from the produce. Typically, you have to cut your produce in smaller pieces than a centrifugal juicer, but you will use less produce because it is more efficient at extracting AND since it grinds, you can make nut butters, baby food, even pasta with your machine so keep that in mind.

Quality

Buy a quality juicer. It matters. If your pulp is dry and void of chunks after you send your fruits and veggies down the chute, this is a good indicator that you bought a quality juicer and you are getting your money’s worth. For a centrifugal juicer, I prefer Breville. This is the model I have: Breville Juice Fountain JE98XL. I feel it is the best bang for your buck as far as quality and price. We’ve had ours for almost 4 years with no problems.

Prep

Have bags on hand and ready to line the pulp catcher before you start, it’s way less messy and allows for faster clean-up. Always rinse your produce and prep all of it before you turn on your juicer (cut carrot tops off, peel citrus, cut the skin off ginger, de-seed apples, etc.).

Juice!

Juice any and every vegetable, herb, fruit and root that is ‘juiceable’ and safe.

Drink Quickly and Enjoy!

Drink the juice you make within minutes of juicing due to oxidation. Oxidation occurs when the cells of a fruit or vegetable are broken and then exposed to air (oxygen). When this happens, produce will automatically start to break down, .i.e. an apple turning brown. Because the cells have been shredded during juicing, nutrients will start to break down at a rapid rate. The best thing when juicing is to drink it right away to get the most nutrients or seal it in an air-tight container, like a mason jar, if you need to keep it longer than 10 minutes. You can keep juice in an airtight container for up to 24 hrs., but some nutrients will have been lost, so just know that when you are storing it for that long. (It has to be better than store-bought juice, right?). 🙂

Clean-up

I cannot stress this enough, clean your juicer right away! Wait, drink your juice first (see above) then clean your juicer right away! Make this a habit. Trust me, you do not want to have to soak and clean dried juice pulp later. Been there, done that. Not cool.

If you’ve never juiced, try it!! You won’t regret feeling better.

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Rama is a Holistic Nutritionist and Mama to 2. She resides in the Pacific NW and enjoys good food with great company, date nights with her husband and quality time with her Littles. "Eighty percent of our immunity lies in our gut. What we eat matters. When we focus on whole, unprocessed foods and begin to lessen our toxic load in all aspects of our life, we become nourished and we heal at the cellular level."

15 Comments

Hey, J! You’re right, most of the nutritional value does come from the peel. It is full of fiber (soluble and insoluble) and beta-carotene, a form of Vit. A which is good for your eyesight. My brand of juicer recommends peeling it because it is hard on the filter, if you don’t mind replacing your juicer filter more frequently, which can be spendy or you have a high-end juicer that can handle it, keep the peel on. Cool!? Glad you’re enjoying juicing, isn’t it fabulous? Juice on!

Sue! I am so glad! Juicing changed my life, too. I’m sure you’ve seen Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, such a great documentary. If you have time you should read ‘How I Got Into Juicing,’ I tell what got me into it. So excited for you guys.

We hear how important getting your daily dose of vitamin and mineral rich fruits and vegetables are for proper
body functioning and overall health. The quality of juice
obtained from an orange juice extractor is
not the same as what is mass-produced and sold in stores. Some of these juicer
machines actually claim themselves as well, just by you adding warm water and turning
on the juicer to let it run.

Ever since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, we juice daily. We juice everything too. We never peel our citrus. There is lots of health benefits especially in the white part. We never peel ginger (don’t see why it’s necessary) and we juice our Apple seeds. They contain pectin which is great for us. Butternut squash and sweet potatoes are great too. Orange vegetables are great for fighting cancer.